The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and is included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR ______________________________________ 1,592,398 July 13, 1926 Van Bloem 2,065,406 Silverman 2,294,865 Frankenthal, et al. 2,354,857 Gits, et al. 2,636,301 Wilmsen 2,731,672 Davis, et al. 3,312,197 Smith 3,406,475 O'Donnell 3,417,175 Brown, et al. 3,632,695 Howell 3,747,440 Camilleri 3,973,342 Gubela 4,043,084 Kuris 4,180,930 Dimatteo 4,330,578 Nishihira, et al. 4,546,019 Schneider 4,687,609 Strugatz 4,883,554 November 28, 1989 Bida 5,013,494 Kubo, et al. 5,189,531 Palmer, et al. 5,223,357 Levison 5,369,553 November 29, 1994 Trusiani 5,538,674 Nisper, et ______________________________________ al.
The patent to Van Bloem shows a sign formed of a translucent glass plate 1 having on its rear side deeply impressed characters C which can be viewed from the front of the plate.
The patent to Silverman shows a glass plate 10 having a recessed design sand-blasted into the rear face. The recessed design is backed by metallic foil so as to be clearly visible from the front face of the plate.
The patent to Frankenthal, et al. teaches a method of making a sign wherein a metal plate is etched to form a design having raised and recessed portions. The design is transferred to a secondary block 2 by stamping to yield a negative of the original design. The plate 2 is then placed in a molding apparatus and filled with a molding powder which is compressed against the plate 2 by a top die 4 to form the completed sign.
The patent to Gits, et al. shows a transparent molded sign having indicia and design recesses 4', 6 and 7 in its rear face. The recesses are sprayed with a colored material to render them more visible when viewed from the front of the sign.
The patent to Gubela shows a sign having a body plate 12 with indicia 18 embossed on a front viewing face. The plate is backed by reflective prisms 13. Various methods of molding the sign are disclosed.
The patent to Strugatz teaches a method of making a molded plastic line drawing wherein the lines of the drawing are first sketched on a tape covering the surface of a glass mold. The line drawing is then cut out of the taped covering and sand blasted to create recesses in the glass mold corresponding to the drawing. The remaining tape is removed and the glass mold is covered with a liquid polyester mixture which flows into the recesses in the mold. The cured polyester is then removed and the raised lines in the polyester forming the picture are colored as needed.
The patent to Trusiani shows an illuminated picture formed of a sheet of transparent plastic having a series of cut-out lines which define the outline of a map or picture. The plastic sheet is edge illuminated to reflect light from all the cut-outs to provide an illuminated line display. A computer controlled laser is employed to cut the pattern in the plastic sheet.
The other prior art listed above but not specifically described teach other designs of plaques and signs and further catalog the prior art of which applicant is aware. These references diverge even more starkly from the references specifically distinguished above.